It’s not a great day for the Internet, folks. Web services seem to be dropping like flies. For several hours today, WordPress.com’s back-end was nowhere to be found, causing several TechCrunch writers to consider writing on legal pads and posting on Craigslist. Some even considered posting on HuffPo. Don’t worry, they’ve been fired.
On top of this, and much to the chagrin of the video-on-demand watching public, Netflix went down for what seemed like a century. I subscribe to Netflix Instant, and as you can see from the above message, I was not allowed to watch my “programs” this evening when I wanted to.
Those trying to access Netflix mobile were also shut out from using the service. Some iPad users received an error message that read, “The requested URL /WiHome was not found on this server.”
Ironically, this outage occurred a few hours after Netflix stock price reached a new high as a result of the company’s stellar Q3 results and because of the high ratings of some audacious Credit Suisse analyst. The stock price surged to $ 19.54, rising by nearly 13 percent, to close at $ 172.69 — three times what the company was worth last year.
What’s more, the service now boasts over 20 million subscribers and a Sandvine study showed that the service has become the largest source of U.S. Internet traffic during peak Web-surfing hours. Yes, it seems that Netflix could break the Internet — that is, of course, if the Internet doesn’t break Netflix first.
Naturally, the Web has been a-flutter with Netflix related chatter, with many of its subscribers taking to Twitter to express their frustration, like this Tweet from one Paula Simone:
“dammit! netflix isn’t working. I had to put my dvd of arrested development in the xbox by hand! BY HAND! what is this 2009?”
Of course, one Twitter user sees a silver lining for the video hub, “Netflix’s current outage and the complaints about [it] in Twitter show how integral it’s become to entertainment for the tech generation”.
Subscribers even created a Yahoo Answers thread, so you know it’s bad.
Netflix publicly recognized the outage in its own Twitter post at about 4:30 p.m. ET, but has yet to explain the cause of the outage or project a timeline for when the service might be available again. Netflix spokeswoman Catherine Fisher said she had no further details either.
Amazon, which has been trying to compete with Netflix in on-demand-video (and launched its instant video streaming service last month but has been forced to watch the big red video service deliver 61 percent of the Web’s total digital video. Amazon currently only offers about 5,000 titles, compared to Netflix’s 20,000+, so the eCommerce giant is likely very pleased with what transpired today, likely massaging its hands and saying “eexcellent” a la Mr. Burns.
The outage today likely just goes to show that Netflix will have to invest more in its data centers and servers to make sure the streaming option remains available, because users likely won’t stand for these kind of interruptions much longer. Pitchforks and torches are on the horizon.
In the past, Netflix has offered credit to its subscribers following large-scale outages. It remains to be seen whether it remained down for long enough to call for such compensation, but from what I saw on Twitter, many were suffering serious abandonment issues. Some were even forced to exercise instead of watching a movie. I know. God help us all.
Update: As of 7:30pm, my Netflix is back up, but no official word from the company as of yet.
Source: TechCrunch